The best of the night was on A Tribe Called Quest's "Scenario," which started out with Pharrell and Common handling the verses until Busta Rhymes bounded onto the stage, wilding out like a maniac and reminding people why his guest appearance on the original track turned him into a star in his own right. With Timbaland and a diva supergroup (Eve, Ciara, Tweet, Keyshia Cole and Nelly Furtado) paying tribute to her, Missy Elliott was up and dancing in the honoree box throughout the 10-minute medley of "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)," "Work It," "Hot Boyz," "Get Ur Freak On" and "Lose Control." It was a dizzying display of clashing styles and images, as well as standout performances, that did justice to Elliott's remarkable career.
The tribute to Snoop Dogg was a bit more straightforward, as Pharrell took on "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" and Ice-T powered his way through "Gin and Juice," with nothing laid back about it. Snoop himself joined T.I.
, B.G., Ice-T and Pharrell for "Drop It Like It's Hot.
" One of the most important parts of the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors, now in its fourth year, doesn't come from star power, though. It comes from context. This time out, it showed the influence of Teddy Riley and Andre Harrell in creating the New Jack Swing movement in Harlem in the '90s, with Ne-Yo and Keyshia Cole doing Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time" and Riley himself showing off how well Blackstreet's "No Diggity" still holds up today.
The documentary "Wild Style," which became the first taste of hip-hop for many outside of New York, was also honored, with new rhymes performed by hip-hop legends Grandmaster Caz, KRS-One and Bizzy B, backed by Grandwizard Theodore, who invented scratching. Maybe the most uplifting part of the event came off-camera, though. In the Hammerstein Ballroom mezzanine, people were crawling over each other to shake hands and take pictures with DJ Kool Herc, whose performances in the Bronx are seen to be the birth of hip-hop.
Like so many pioneers, Herc hasn't seen all the financial benefits that those who followed him have. Shows like the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors are important because they help change that. VH1 HIP-HOP HONORS.
A star-studded affair honoring Snoop Dogg, Missy Elliott, A Tribe Called Quest, Whodini, the New Jack Swing genre and the movie "Wild Style." At Hammerstein Ballroom on Thursday. The special airs on VH1 at 10 tonight.
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